Strategies for Embracing a Mobile Mindset for Corporate Training

Posted on Thu, 05/17/2018 - 08:12

Embracing a mobile mindset for corporate training equips employees with the best possible job preparation.

How often do you look at your smartphone during an average day? Chances are, you’ve taken a peek within the last hour. The way that people access information has changed dramatically in the last decade. This shift over the last couple years has been even greater.

For training and development to be relevant and effective for today’s learners, you have to embrace a mobile mindset. It isn’t simply a change in the way things are done – it’s an overall adjustment in attitude about the design and delivery of content. Using mobile devices as a part of the training program is key for improving employee learning across the board.

Defining a mobile mindset

A mobile mindset involves more than just using a smartphone or tablet. It involves understanding how your target audience interacts with their mobile devices, and then creating your strategies accordingly. There are three factors to take into consideration when you’re planning learning-on-the-go activities for your employees.

How they use their smartphones and tablets.The majority of data usage on mobile devices is coming from apps – to the tune of 87%. What this means is that people are doing everything on their phones, from shopping to research.

Why they like mobile devices so much.The answer goes beyond the speed, convenience, and ease of use. At the heart of the matter is multitasking. Users want to move from one task to another from moment to moment. They may be texting, learning, sharing pictures on social media, and being productive – at almost the same time. This is the crux of a mobile mindset.

Now that you understand how to embrace a mobile mindset for your corporate training, let’s take a look at how to put mobile learning into action effectively.

Implementing mobile learning

Know your goal.The purpose of your portable training strategy will inform your decisions as you’re building your program or selecting one to purchase. Do you want to create an ever-growing reference tool? Or, do you want an in-depth training experience that helps your team learn and retain the information?

Know how mobile training fits into your comprehensive plan.Is this new style of corporate training replacing your existing processes? Will it be a complement to what you’re already doing? Mobile learning may not be right for every single part of your training curriculum, but it can still be a critical component. Using various mediums is the best way to reach a variety of learning styles.

Understand your learners.The explosion of mobile device usage has affected the attention spans of today’s learners’. Most people won’t spend 20 or 30 minutes watching a video or reading a selection on their smartphone or tablet. Don’t expect them to learn this way. Information should be broken down into bite-sized chunks that engage learners and can be consumed in a short amount of time. Your team will appreciate your efforts to present important training to them in a method that’s aligned with their mobile usage.

Utilize spaced repetition.The traditional method of learning is linear. All of the information is presented, there may be a brief review, and then there’s an assessment. That has not proven to be the best method of learning, however. Spaced repetition is the answer.Spaced repetition is a learning method that utilizes increasing intervals of time between succeeding reviews of previously learned information. It is a much more efficient and effective learning method, plus it’s easy to implement within a mobile training program. The idea is to ask the learners to recall difficult information periodically throughout the learning experience. It keeps them from feeling overwhelmed from too much new material.They have a chance to comprehend ideas more completely before moving on to a fresh concept.Spaced repetition increases retention rates astronomically without any additional study time. Web services are available to automate this repetition and optimize the learning process.

Allow materials to be referenced.Learning is obviously the goal, but your team’s mobile devices can be used for more. Since people have their smartphones on them nearly all the time, the ability to go back and reference material a year or more down the road is invaluable. The best mobile learning programs can be used as reference tools indefinitely, working as a convenient job aid.

The bottom line

Your corporate training tactics should be relevant to the way today’s learners best consume information. Mobile learning gives your team the best opportunity for effective job training that results in retention of information and the ability to implement what’s been learned.

At Designing Digitally, Inc. we create custom mLearning modules designed for quick reference in the field, tablet and phone-friendly versions of our eLearning and serious game courses, and custom developed phone apps for Android and iOS stores.